Food Advice

C

Cat Mom97

Member
Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've posted here. I've come to ask for some advice with Mus's diet. I've been feeding him the Friskies pates and he's been good on those for a while. Although, since he was diagnosed diabetic, he has lost quite a bit of muscle. Lately I've noticed that he's been trending a little higher, particularly in the mornings. My relative (his other caretaker) says that we should make him food ourselves. I wanted to know if anyone has any experience with this and if you can give me any guidance.

I'm worried that making him eat food he's not used to, and cooking it ourselves, could possibly cause a spike and mess everything up. Maybe that sounds silly, I'm just afraid of making any changes to his current diet when everything has been going steady for a while. 2025 has shown a lot more blue in his chart than last year and I don't want that number to keep going up.
 
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Are you looking to make raw or cooked food?

One easy way to do both is to use a pre-mix such as TC Feline or Know Better or EZComplete with the meat of your choice. The pre-mix contains all of the necessary vitamins and minerals. You basically mix X amount of pre-mix and X amount of water to X amount of meat and mix together. Portion out into serving sizes or daily portions and freeze.

If you're doing raw, then you want to buy whole cuts of meat like a chicken breast and cut it up yourself. Pre ground meat may have bacteria mixed throughout it. If you're doing cooked, then it's fine to use pre ground meat since cooking will kill off bacteria. @Staci & Ivy roasts meat in the oven and then I guess the cooked meat is shredded up.
 
I've been feeding my guys a partially raw diet an I do use ground meat I get at the grocery store. At one time, I did grind my own but that was at a time when getting ground chicken was next to impossible. I also EZ Complete as my pre-mix. Dr. Lisa's feline nutrition website has information on a homemade diet. She has instructions including all of the supplements if you want to buy them all vs using a pre-mix. She also discusses raw vs lightly cooked.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I've been feeding my guys a partially raw diet an I do use ground meat I get at the grocery store. At one time, I did grind my own but that was at a time when getting ground chicken was next to impossible. I also EZ Complete as my pre-mix. Dr. Lisa's feline nutrition website has information on a homemade diet. She has instructions including all of the supplements if you want to buy them all vs using a pre-mix. She also discusses raw vs lightly cooked.
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squeem3 said:
Are you looking to make raw or cooked food?

One easy way to do both is to use a pre-mix such as TC Feline or Know Better or EZComplete with the meat of your choice. The pre-mix contains all of the necessary vitamins and minerals. You basically mix X amount of pre-mix and X amount of water to X amount of meat and mix together. Portion out into serving sizes or daily portions and freeze.

If you're doing raw, then you want to buy whole cuts of meat like a chicken breast and cut it up yourself. Pre ground meat may have bacteria mixed throughout it. If you're doing cooked, then it's fine to use pre ground meat since cooking will kill off bacteria. @Staci & Ivy roasts meat in the oven and then I guess the cooked meat is shredded up.
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We're still undecided, but I think if we end up doing the homemade food that I'd go for something cooked instead of raw. My concern is not knowing how his body and BG will react because with the Friskies cans I've been able to afford it and it's kept him steady all this time.
 
Cat Mom97 said:
We're still undecided, but I think if we end up doing the homemade food that I'd go for something cooked instead of raw. My concern is not knowing how his body and BG will react because with the Friskies cans I've been able to afford it and it's kept him steady all this time.
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Hi, I do cook Ivy’s food (roast lamb in the oven) then combine with supplements following a recipe in my cuisines so it’s totally blended. Then freeze. I defrost the next day’s feedings in the refrigerator the night before.

If you transition food I’d do it as advised to make sure no GI problems either with the transition and of course, you will watch the BG.
Good luck!
 
Concern here is also the long term affordability. I'm being told by a friend that paying for the pricier wet food would probably be better than going home-cooked if I'm looking to afford it. Any advice on that?
I'm just worried because his glucose seems to be trending up with less green on his chart. This is what spurred me to ask about home cooking his meals.
 
Cat Mom97 said:
Concern here is also the long term affordability. I'm being told by a friend that paying for the pricier wet food would probably be better than going home-cooked if I'm looking to afford it. Any advice on that?
I'm just worried because his glucose seems to be trending up with less green on his chart. This is what spurred me to ask about home cooking his meals.
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Looking at the SS, I do not see what insulin you are giving, but the numbers I see in blue are ok, it would of great help if you can test at least 2-3 times after dosing to see the effect during the day, most of the member use Fancy Feast Pates between 0- 10% carbs Chewy.com has the best prices buying by the case of 24 about $0.83 a can compared to Publix $1.04 a can, yiu can auto ship you save more, and you can adjust the order and dates at your convenience, you can use a carb calculator and use the nutrients in the food, tge dry matter carbs is the % to look for
 
No insulin. He got diagnosed by a terrible vet who wanted me to keep him on the dosage she prescribed even after I told her that I was changing his diet to wet food only. I had given him one dose when he was first diagnosed but through diet change alone I've been able to keep him stable.
I know that the blue numbers are technically okay, but I've noticed that they're getting a little higher.
 
Cat Mom97 said:
No insulin. He got diagnosed by a terrible vet who wanted me to keep him on the dosage she prescribed even after I told her that I was changing his diet to wet food only. I had given him one dose when he was first diagnosed but through diet change alone I've been able to keep him stable.
I know that the blue numbers are technically okay, but I've noticed that they're getting a little higher.
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that's awesome, Corky will be a life time diabetic, but he has amazing numbers, have you tested for Ketones, although the number BGs are not high enough, have you changed his wet food to different flavors? if you have you should check the carb %, it's happened to me, I trust Chewy.com sometimes in the content of the food, without using the carb calculator, and BAM! it's higher carbs, Corky only eats between 0-4%, sometimes one that ir as a ss 6% but no more than that, I just bought some CHURU's, I keep hearing about them here as a treat, but when I got home and put the nutrients, it's 17% dry matter carbs, it's hard to find a low carb treat
 
CORKY said:
that's awesome, Corky will be a life time diabetic, but he has amazing numbers, have you tested for Ketones, although the number BGs are not high enough, have you changed his wet food to different flavors? if you have you should check the carb %, it's happened to me, I trust Chewy.com sometimes in the content of the food, without using the carb calculator, and BAM! it's higher carbs, Corky only eats between 0-4%, sometimes one that ir as a ss 6% but no more than that, I just bought some CHURU's, I keep hearing about them here as a treat, but when I got home and put the nutrients, it's 17% dry matter carbs, it's hard to find a low carb treat
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I haven't tested for Ketones as of late, but every time I've checked he's been just fine. I'll have to wait to catch him in the act.
I have to alternate between five flavors of Friskies pate, but the highest they've gone seems to be almost 5% and the lowest 3%. I'll give him PureBites freeze dried chicken as a treat occasionally.
 
CORKY said:
Did you know that curve means you test every 2 hours for 2 cycles ( 2 days) straight?
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Just a point of clarification, when a curve is done, it is typically by testing BG every 2 hours for a cycle (12 hours) or every 3 hours for 18 hours, and usually the intent is to determine how insulin is working before making changes to dose.

Any other changes in Mus’ world, changes to feeding schedule, or possible new stressors? Any chance he’s getting into higher carb food? I recall a caregiver several years ago whose diabetic kitty was getting into the other Kitty’s food. Caregiver didn’t think the diabetic kitty could get to it, and was surprised when she finally caught her diabetic kitty in the act. BG numbers are still coming down which means pancreas is working.
 
CORKY said:
Did you know that curve means you test every 2 hours for 2 cycles ( 2 days) straight?
Click to expand...
Christie & Maverick said:
Just a point of clarification, when a curve is done, it is typically by testing BG every 2 hours for a cycle (12 hours) or every 3 hours for 18 hours, and usually the intent is to determine how insulin is working before making changes to dose.

Any other changes in Mus’ world, changes to feeding schedule, or possible new stressors? Any chance he’s getting into higher carb food? I recall a caregiver several years ago whose diabetic kitty was getting into the other Kitty’s food. Caregiver didn’t think the diabetic kitty could get to it, and was surprised when she finally caught her diabetic kitty in the act. BG numbers are still coming down which means pancreas is working.
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@CORKY I have done a curve before, but haven't really done so lately. I just tested him a little more recently to see if he's going back down after his meals or around lunchtime.

@Christie & Maverick No changes besides the feeding schedule has fluctuated slightly in the mornings, but it's never gotten too bad. No chance he's getting into the high carb food and I have made sure it's clear to his other caregiver that anything other than his current diet or snacks is not okay.
 
Cat Mom97 said:
@CORKY I have done a curve before, but haven't really done so lately. I just tested him a little more recently to see if he's going back down after his meals or around lunchtime.

@Christie & Maverick No changes besides the feeding schedule has fluctuated slightly in the mornings, but it's never gotten too bad. No chance he's getting into the high carb food and I have made sure it's clear to his other caregiver that anything other than his current diet or snacks is not okay.
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@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@Staci & Ivy
 
CORKY said:
Did you know that curve means you test every 2 hours for 2 cycles ( 2 days) straight?
Click to expand...
This is not correct information. A cycle is a 12-hour period. There are 2 cycles per day -- the AM cycle and the PM cycle. When you are getting a curve, you test every 2 hours for ONE cycle (otherwise you would be awake for 24 hours) or the other option is to test every 3 hours for 1.5 cycles. Most people test for one cycle. I can't even remember if there were people who tested every 3 hours although with the continuous glucose monitors it's much easier to do this since the meter saves the data.
 
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